Food costing software for clearer dish margins
Food cost percentage is only useful when your recipe reflects the prices you are paying. Chef’s Helper keeps ingredient costs, yield and selling price together, so you can update a dish and see its revised margin without rebuilding a spreadsheet formula.
What it does
Plate-level costing
Enter every ingredient, quantity and cost to calculate the batch total and cost per portion. Add a selling price and the app shows GP% instantly.
See margin before you sell
Review a dish when a supplier price changes, update its ingredient cost and see the revised cost per portion and GP% before deciding whether to change the menu price.
Costs stay with the recipe
Keep ingredient costs beside quantities, yield and selling price. When you update a recipe’s figures, its batch cost, portion cost and GP% recalculate together.
Printable kitchen records
Print recipe cards with ingredients, method, costs, GP% and the reviewed allergen summary for the pass or prep area.
Work out food cost per dish
Enter a recipe’s ingredients during the 14-day trial and get its cost per portion and GP%. No spreadsheet formulas to maintain.
Start your free 14-day trial →From invoice to menu price
When a supplier price changes, update the cost on the affected recipe. The batch total, cost per portion and GP% recalculate together. If that recipe is linked to a menu item, the menu view uses its updated per-portion cost when showing GP%.
Worked food-cost example
A recipe with £24.00 of ingredients and a yield of 12 costs £2.00 per portion. At a £9.50 selling price, the gross profit is £7.50 and the GP% is 78.9%. If the ingredient total rises to £27.00, the portion cost becomes £2.25 and GP% falls to 76.3%, making the effect of the price rise visible.
Built for small kitchen teams
You do not need a finance department to use it. The costing screen is designed like a kitchen prep sheet: ingredient, quantity, unit cost, total. Anyone who can read a recipe can read the cost breakdown.
Keep ingredient margin and staffing context separate
Recipe GP% shows the selling price left after the recorded ingredient cost; it is not a full labour or overhead calculation. Use the kitchen staff rota separately to plan who is scheduled for each service. The rota does not calculate wages, payroll or labour cost.